Your Dutch Roots

13/05/2026

👣 Sometimes, family history suddenly becomes very real.

On a special day in Kampen, Margreet and I visited the City Archives.

There, she saw her father’s original family registration card, and together we discovered more about her grandparents and family history.

Names.
Addresses.
Birth records.
Small details from nearly 100 years ago.

She even found her father’s birth announcement in an old edition of the Kamper Courant.

But what truly made the day special was visiting the houses connected to so many family memories.

Together, we walked down the street and stopped in front of the house where her parents, brothers, and sisters once lived — family members who are no longer with us. I could feel both her emotion and her joy.

And when we visited the former home of her grandparents, the surprise became even greater.

We were warmly invited inside for a look around.
There you are, after so many years, standing once again in your grandparents’ small living room.

This was the place where the whole family gathered almost every Sunday.
Uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces… so many memories came flooding back.

These are the moments when family history no longer feels distant.
Suddenly, it becomes something you can truly feel.

It was very special to experience this together.

👣 Following your family footsteps in the Netherlands
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Soms wordt familiegeschiedenis ineens heel tastbaar.
Niet alleen in het archief, maar juist op de plekken waar een familie ooit echt heeft gewoond 🤍
Dat zijn de momenten waarop een verhaal tot leven komt.
🌿 Your Dutch Roots
Following your family footsteps

21/04/2026

🇨🇦 🇬🇧
Last week, I attended a special event hosted by Collectie Overijssel at in Zwolle.
Geoff Osborne shared how an old archival photo and a small box bearing his grandfather’s handwritten name,
Earl Olmsted, brought him all the way from Canada to Zwolle. 🇨🇦

His grandfather helped liberate our city. When Geoff talked about that one little box, his face lit up. That’s exactly what I see in my own guests too!
Whether it’s a relative of a servicemember or an emigrant searching for their roots: the emotion of knowing where you come from is universal.

Project44
For families of servicemembers who are also searching for answers, there is now Project44. With this new interactive map, you can suddenly search for their story in a very targeted way. 🔎
I recently found a photo myself with the following inscription on the back: 'A.E. Coldwell, Royal Canadian Artillery, Toronto, Ontario.' This photo will soon take me to my hometown of Kampen for a visit to the City Archives. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tell you more about this soon.

Would you like to stay updated?
Feel free to follow me here. Hopefully, I’ll be able to take you along on my—or our—journey of discovery soon
🇳🇱
Vorige week was ik bij een bijzondere middag van Collectie Overijssel in . Zwolle
Geoff Osborne vertelde hoe een oude archieffoto en een doosje met de handgeschreven naam van zijn opa,
Earl Olmsted, hem helemaal vanuit Canada naar Zwolle brachten. 🇨🇦

Zijn opa hielp mee aan de bevrijding van onze stad. Toen Geoff over dat ene doosje vertelde, begon hij helemaal te stralen. Dát is precies wat ik ook bij mijn eigen gasten zie!
Of het nu een familielid van een militair is of een emigrant die op zoek is naar zijn roots: de emotie van weten waar je vandaan komt is universeel.

Project44
Voor families van militairen die ook antwoorden zoeken, is er nu Project44. Met deze nieuwe interactieve kaart kun je dan ineens heel gericht op zoek naar hun verhaal. 🔎
Zelf vond ik onlangs een foto met achterop: 'A.E. Coldwell, Royal Canadian Artillery, Toronto Ontario. Deze foto brengt mij binnenkort naar mijn geboorteplaats Kampen voor een bezoek aan het Stadsarchief Hopelijk kan ik hier binnenkort meer over vertellen

Willen jullie graag op de hoogte blijven?
Je mag mij rustig hier volgen. Hopelijk kan ik jullie binnenkort live meenemen op mijn of jullie ontdekkingsreis

15/04/2026

Tulips live on your screen? 🌷
👇
My dream is to take you on a LIVE tour of the flower fields this spring to show you the magic of a Dutch spring in real-time.
However, Instagram only allows me to go live once I hit 1,000 followers... and we are only 49 followers away!
Help Your Dutch Roots grow:
1️⃣ Follow us for your weekly dose of the Netherlands.
2️⃣ Let me know in the comments: What is your favorite tulip color?

Let’s hit that 1,000 mark together! 🚀

10/04/2026

Look how happy we are!
My cousin and I share the same passion:
Our family history.

It was wonderful to be able to give her my ‘Your Dutch Roots Journal’.
She gave me this Kamper Almanac.
Thank you so much, Margreet Hellendoorn. I’m really happy with it.

Soon we’ll be together to trace her parents’ roots.

Do you have a ‘family tree friend’ too?

Would you like to record your family story as well?
My Your Dutch Roots Journal is available — feel free to send me a DM
🧩
Kijk ons eens stralen!
Mijn nicht en ik delen dezelfde passie:
onze familiegeschiedenis.
Het was geweldig om haar mijn ‘Your Dutch Roots Journal’ te kunnen geven.
Zij gaf mij deze Kamper Almanak.
Heel erg bedankt, Margreet. Ik ben er echt blij mee.

Binnenkort gaan we samen op onderzoek uit naar de roots van haar ouders.
Heb jij ook een ‘stamboom-maatje’?

Wil jij ook je familiegeschiedenis vastleggen?
Mijn Your Dutch Roots Journal is verkrijgbaar — stuur me gerust een DM

29/03/2026

14/03/2026

40 YEARS OF LOVE & A SPECIAL GIFT PACKAGE! 💎✨
Hooray! Today we’re celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary 🥂
A ruby anniversary full of stories and special memories!

To celebrate this with you, I’m giving away a beautiful Anniversary Package on behalf of Your Dutch Roots
🎁
I’ll be making no fewer than 4 people happy
What can you win?
1x The Grand Prize:
• A copy of my own unique limited edition Your Dutch Roots Journal – the perfect book to record your family stories and discoveries.
• 🏷️ A gift certificate worth €40 off a family tree research project or one of my other services of your choice.
Extra chance:
I’m also giving away 3 copies of my personally signed, unique, and limited-edition journal to 3 other winners.

How do you enter?
▪︎ Follow on Instagram.
▪︎ ❤️ Like this post.
• 📸 Share the nostalgia: Post a wedding photo from 40 years ago (or longer!) in the comments. It can be of yourself or your (grand)parents. Briefly tell us who we’re seeing!
🏷️ Want an extra chance? Share this post in your Stories and tag .

I can’t wait to see all those beautiful photos from the past! The winner will be announced on March 24, 2025.
Love,
Yvonne
Your Dutch Roots

11/03/2026

👣
Today was a very enjoyable and special day.
My niece Margreet Hellendoorn (and her husband) from Hanzestad Kampen came to visit and she brought a treasure trove of memories with her: old 8mm films on a USB stick.

Together we watched footage of our fathers from the 60s and 70s, our grandparents, my parents, and even myself as a 7-year-old girl...how cool, but also very special to see all of this on film.

What stories we shared together
It is these stories that have shaped us into who we are today.

The stories and seeing these images that we shared together reminded me once again why I started Your Dutch Roots..

Have you recently made a wonderful discovery about your family history? Share it in the comments!
👇